So early this morning, in a corner of the cramped clubhouse after the season ended, Peralta was asked, “Have you thought about telling the Tigers you would be willing to play left field” — his newly adopted position — “in order to stay here?”

Peralta said: “There’s a chance for sure, yeah, because I like the organization here. Do I want to be here? Yeah, I want to be here.”

The problem with that is corner outfield prospect Nick Castellanos is just about ready for everyday playing time at the major league level.

And the Tigers also have Andy Dirks, who is arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter.

Peralta — a client of SFX — will likely make more money if he pitches himself as a shortstop anyway. The 31-year-old batted .303/.358/.457 in 107 games this year before being hit with a 50-game PED suspension.

It’s a safe bet — unless there’s some sort of injury or trade — that Jhonny won’t be back in Detroit.

If the Tigers were smart about it they’d sign him as their SS, use Iglesias as a late inning defensive replacement/super utility guy, and Castenellos would be used in LF next year, and 3B the year after when V-Mart is off the books and Cabrera can be moved to DH.

Iglesias’ bat just isn’t going to carry him at the major league level.

I’d like to see Iglesias play a full season for us to decide whether he’s a major league hitter. If he can hit .250 or better, that’s valuable to us. Peralta is a very streaky hitter. He’s hit very well for us in 2 seasons and very poorly in 1.

Iglesias who made the error to loss the game ! Who had 2 errors one in each late inning losses ! He will be luck to hit 150 next year ! Need to sign Jhonny who made 4 error all season and a all star who hot over 300 ! Need Both Jhonny and Infante both hit over 300 ! Jose is nothing more than a no hit back up infielder

Reflex - Oct 20, 2013 at 11:24 PM

I expect Jose to hit between .220-240 over a full season, with virtually no power. No amount of defense makes up for that, but the kicker here is that Jose just isn’t an elite defensive talent either. Nor is he a great baserunner.

Like it or not, Jhonny is a better all around player, and not by an insignificant margin. Even as he ages he is likely to remain better for the next few years.

tfbuckfutter - Oct 20, 2013 at 5:20 PM

Drug abusers will do a lot of things in order to keep the flow of drugs flowing.

I would agree if his defense were great, but neither by traditional nor advanced metrics is it that great. Its a little bit above Peralta’s, but not by any large amount and his bat is *way* below Peralta, even in his bad years.

Yep, let the Captain DH until he passes the easily achievable milestones in front of him (all time hits list, runs scored etc…) and sign Peralta to play short for them.

Jeter is currently 10th on the all time hit list… but he is only 3 hits from tying for 9th place. He’s 103 hits from tying for 8th place and 104 hits from tying for 7th place all time. Also, he’s only 119 hits from 6th place.

I think Jeter would like at least 120 hits to move up to #6 all time on the hit list. His injury riddled season this past yr will keep him from making it into the top 5 or so. If he played this past season I think he would have ended up around #3 all time.

Jeter is currently 13th all time on the runs scored list. He’s only 6 runs from 12th, 12 runs from 11th place, and 43 runs from 10th but that is trickier as 10th place is Aroid and while he’ll be suspended for much or all of next season, he’ll come back and score some more runs in 2015 etc…

Jeter is only 73 behind 9th place right now for runs scored so with a decent season next yr he could get to 9th (and then drop to 10th when Alex comes back).

with the salary the tigers owe to 4 getting over the hill players for the rest of this decade, your days in detroit are over johnny. Even if they had a place for you to play, they would not resign you. Pack your bags, and don’t let the door hit your back on the way out.

This is just lip-service from Jhonny, who knows he’s gone but wants to stay on good terms with the organization. He’s a solid player, but the Iglesias trade makes it pretty obvious who’s starting at SS for the Tigers. As for LF, well, no doubt that the hope is Castellanos makes the team out of spring training and becomes the reliable everyday LF the Tigers need.

All things told, the Tigers need a couple guys with more speed and versatility. While Jhonny’s bat will be missed next season, if they can get Iglesias to bat .270, I think he works out as a nice #9 bat. Jhonny knows as well as the Tigers do that he’s likely to get a better deal – in terms of position on the diamond, money, and years – elsewhere. If both parties – the Tigers and Jhonny – wanted him to stay past this year, they wouldn’t have worked out a 1-year deal last offseason.

He’s been solid for us, though. I wish him well wherever he goes, unless it’s in-division, of course.

Totally agree about the trade and Iglesias being here to stay. .270 is NOT a 9 hitter’s average, though. To compare, A Jax has hit about .270 and has hit leadoff for forever. if Iglesias swings .250 (and I have no idea why some doubt his ability to do so), he is a true asset to have considering his best-in-league defense.